Presented by Anil K. Roy, Gujarat SectionAnnual planning, volunteer engagement, and member empowerment are points of concern for any Section. Since they are interwoven, membership may dip if any of the three areas is missing. The Gujarat Section has been experimenting to achieve sucess in all these areas for the last five years. Student members organize an annual event called "Sampark," meaning "contact," in the beginning of the year. For a full day, they share their needs, their experiences with IEEE, what did they like and don't like, and their expectations from the Section. The day includes fun games, team building exercises, brainstorming, and ultimately, an open-house with the Section Executive Committee members. The event concludes with the Section’s major actionable plan and recognition of extraordinary volunteers.

Engaging Members Through Community Inspired Activities

Presented by Dr. S. A. Ishmael and Mr. E. Kirchner, Melbourne Section

The IEEE Melbourne Section has been increasing Section awareness and recognition through activities which directly engage the surrounding community. The Section is addressing the employment and career development needs of people in the community and also stepping up to a leading role in the development of a state certified examination to encourage high school students to pursue engineering and technology related careers. A very productive career workshop recently occurred due to successful collaboration between neighboring Sections (Melbourne, Cape Canaveral, and Orlando) and IEEE-USA. This workshop was also available via webcast to other Sections within Region 3. The Section is anxious to share with other members their goals, strategies, and activities that involve the community and which are channeling visibility to the Section. Their hope is that their activities will generate positive feedback and encourage synergistic developments in the form of joint programs and projects on both regional and national levels.

IEEE Blog, Tweet & Win Contest

Presented by Srikanta P, Bangalore Section

IEEE membership comes with an array of benefits, sometimes causing confusion in new members, in regards to what could be of value to them. This may sometimes lead to an unsatisfactory first year member experience, which can result in poor retention rate of IEEE members. For some, the membership value could be Digital Library, for others, it could be Conference discounts, or Spectrum, or even Webinars hosted by IEEE GOLD. The platform of the “IEEE Blog, Tweet & Win” contest aimed to tackle this problem by inviting members to share their successful member experiences. Potential or new members can relate to their peers from similar professional backgrounds and understand how to make best use of IEEE membership. Showcasing this effort and its outcome can increase awareness about membership benefits and help members belonging to different cultures and speaking different languages.

Members’ Appreciation through the Newsletter

Presented by Zia Ahmed, R10 Newsletter

In line with the rich traditions of respect and recognition for each other in the Asia-Pacific countries, the IEEE Region 10 Newsletter publishes a special section to pay tribute from IEEE colleagues to the Region Director at the end of his/her term. This is the IEEE Region 10 conventional way of saying thank you to their top volunteer with positive notes of happy memories and acknowledgement of the Director’s contributions to promote IEEE in the Region. The tributes to the outgoing Director also help promote a culture of mutual respect and sense of belonging to the larger IEEE family, which strengthens the fabric of IEEE in the Region. This activity has greatly motivated the volunteers, and the concept is very much appreciated. Many members pay tributes with encouraging words for the leader. This poster showcases the concept to other volunteers across the world.

IEEE Milestones: Using the Past to Understand the Present and Create the FuturePresented by Nikolaos Golas, Long Island SectionThe IEEE Long Island Section has been using the resources of the IEEE History Center to preserve and promote the legacy of engineering on Long Island. It has found the IEEE Milestone Program a great way to focus Section energy, engage members, enhance member pride, and gain public visibility for the continuing roles of IEEE and technological innovation in society. It submitted its first Milestone proposal by polling members on candidates posted on the IEEE Global History Network (GHN) and published in its newsletter. The GHN and newsletter provide tools to write Section history, preserve materials of historical interest, and enable members to record their own stories. This poster will explain how other IEEE Sections can carry out what the Long Island Section is doing.

IEEE-CNSV Consulting Practices ProgramPresented by Jeff Safire, Santa Clara Valley SectionThe IEEE-Consultants Network of Silicon Valley (IEEE-CNSV) created a seminar/webinar program, and it has been underway since April 2009. The program is titled: “Consulting Practices Program” (CPP). These seminars teach engineers and consultants the business basics of running a consultancy and developing technology such as legal documents, patents, sales pitches, and marketing of their services; taxes; and establishing a Web presence for the business. The seminars are open to all IEEE-CNSV members and have been marketed to IEEE members within the San Francisco Bay Area Council. The attendance fees are very reasonable and are discounted for IEEE members, usually in the range of US$35-$40 per seminar. With both webinar and in-person options, the seminars are effectively open to the world! The IEEE-CNSV is presenting its offerings of these seminars/webinars to SC2011 attendees so that IEEE members, engineers, and consultants around the world can also benefit from these classes.

Involving Section and State IEEE Groups to Organize a Regional ConferencePresented by Jim Conrad, Charlotte SectionThe North Carolina (NC) Council and Charlotte Section organized and ran IEEE SoutheastCon 2010, a regional conference. The conference included the standard sub-conferences (technical, student, and Region meeting), but also had tutorials and an expanded exhibit hall. The primary goals were to engage as many students and members as possible by making the student and member registration as affordable as possible. The conference attracted over 870 IEEE members, IEEE Student members, non-members, exhibitors, volunteers, and guests. The conference theme "IEEE SoutheastCon 2010: Energizing our Future" highlighted the Charlotte region's emphasis on energy. Many talks and tutorials centered on energy topics. The technical program included 124 published papers, six for-fee tutorials, and over 20 free short tutorials. The student competitions involved over 40 universities in six contests. This poster will describe how the conference organizers rallied the local community, local section, NC Council, and others to participate and make the conference a success.

Strike new GOLD, by PACE-ing your STEPsPresented by Kheng Swee, Region 5Attendees will find out how new Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) chairs, who are also new to GOLD, were able to be brought up to speed and to successfully lead their Sections through GOLD events, with the help of the Student Transition & Elevation Partnership (STEP) program and regional Professional Activities Committees for Engineers (PACE) support.

A Successful Collaborative Initiative to Promote Section and Chapters: IEEE Toronto International Conference – Science and Technology for HumanityPresented by Xavier Fernando and Alexei Botchkarev, Toronto SectionThis poster will share experience and knowledge gained by the IEEE Toronto Section in successfully organizing the IEEE Toronto International Conference – Science and Technology for Humanity for the first time. The conference attracted 360 papers from 29 countries, out of which 186 papers were accepted. There were three tutorials, plus five key-note and plenary speeches. Both on-site and on-line participation were made possible, and the event was financially very successful. The poster will describe how the Section and Chapters can work collaboratively to engage local universities and industry in IEEE activities and integrate an IEEE Milestone (First External Pacemaker) to increase public visibility.

Analysis of Industry Relevance of IEEEPresented by Nihal Sinnadurai, UK&RI SectionThe Region 8 team was tasked to find "how to make IEEE more relevant to industry," i.e. how can IEEE serve the industry community to help make their businesses more successful. A team of senior leaders from industry was set up, first in the UK & RI Section, and then elsewhere in Region 8. The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis was one the outputs from the teams. The intention is to influence and help change IEEE to serve its industry members better.

Atacama Solar ChallengePresented by Leandro Valencia V., Chile SectionAtacama Solar Challenge (ASC) will be the first Latin American solar car race. It is an event where environmentalists, engineers, and racers all gather together as they all work towards promoting the development of solar technology and energy efficiency. ASC shares the principle “Generate human capital in Latin America, capable of improving development beyond what we believe possible.” Within this project, students of engineering meet the challenge of solving a real engineering problem.

Helping L'Aquila Fly AgainPresented by Stefano Zanero, Silvano Donati, and Francesco Vatalaro, Region 8This poster will describe the Italy Section's humanitarian effort to help in reconstruction after the terrible earthquake in the city of L'Aquila (meaning "The Eagle") in Abruzzo. L'Aquila University (an ancient and well known institution) was substantially damaged. With help from the Section and the IEEE Foundation, there was substantial reconstruction of computer laboratories. The IEEE Computer Society supported other relief initiatives such as a charity cyber-law congress. This event illustrates the powerful networking and social effect of IEEE's solidarity, and its ability to help in disaster relief activities.

IEEE Industry-Academia RelationsPresented by Niranjan Uma Shankar and Prasanna Venkatesan, India IEEE Industry-Academia RelationsWorking on real-world engineering challenges, having industry experts as mentors, understanding current technology trends, and future opportunities are critical to foster student excellence. To cater to these and more, industries and universities are attempting to bridge the industry-academia divide, but efforts are not centralized, and there is a lot of work to do in this space. Why not use IEEE as the central platform to bridge the divide? In India, we attempted this with an “Industry Relations” initiative (supported by Region 10 Student Activities Committee), and the impact it created was epochal in the Student Activities history of India. This poster will showcase the structure of the initiative and modus operandi. This model can be duplicated in other IEEE Sections, impacting Student members around the world.

IEEE Members: Promoting Social Responsibility through Personal Performance and Community CommitmentPresented by Cliff Alston, Denver SectionThe IEEE Denver Section sponsors many activities to promote members’ social responsibility via personal performance and community commitment. The activities include interaction with government and industry. This poster will include examples of specific Section programs which address the needs of engineers and engineering students, as well as provide support to Colorado pre-college education:• Congressional Visit Day in Washington, D.C. • Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry’s Business Day• a special affair at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics • tour of the local ORACLE facility• regularly scheduled Networking Nights at local college campuses• PACE Career Event and career panels conducted at local high schools• financial support for scholarships and math/science competitions

Regional Sharing of Continuing Education ProgramsPresented by John Prohodsky, Oregon SectionConferences and workshops benefit Sections that produce them; however, those benefits can be shared with other Sections that promote them to their members. This poster presents Region 6 and the Oregon Section’s experience with sharing a workshop - both content and revenue. The "Smart Grid Workshop: From Appliance to Generator and Back" was presented and webcast on 8 September 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA. The workshop demonstrated that the sharing concept works and provided valuable insight into what participating Sections can do to make it work for them. The poster will present the revenue sharing model, expenses incurred to bring the workshop to the desktop and remote sites, planning and administration of the webcast, what is required of participating Sections, and lessons learned.

Role of IEEE in the Upliftment of Quality of Standards and Engineering Education in IndiaPresented by Shiban Koul, Chair, IEEE Delhi Section With the advancement of technology, proper education in engineering and science becomes important to supply appropriate manpower for industry and research, to meet global challenges. In India, there is a big revolution in education, particularly higher technical education. Newer and newer institutes and colleges are being established in each corner of the country. As per the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines, the college has to meet the standards of education in terms of the faculty and infrastructure and accreditation is mandatory. At most of the colleges, IEEE Student Branches have thus been launched and technical seminars are being organized. IEEE has global networking even in the rural and remote areas of the country, thus enhancing the technical knowlege of the engineer. The status of engineering institutions is presented in this poster by providing survey results on the improvement in the standards and quality of education through IEEE activities. Main emphasis is placed on the projects undertaken in humanitarian technology and society upliftment, and IEEE contributions to this effort are highlighted.

STEP-UP to Succeed, Step-down to Wither AwayPresented by Sreeraman Rajan, Ottawa SectionIn this poster, the IEEE Ottawa Section will present its outreach efforts to high school students. A new initiative called “STEP-UP: Technology Engineering programs and Unique pathways” was undertaken in 2010 by the Section, in cooperation with the Ottawa Center for Research and Innovation (OCRI), University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and local industries. The aim was to educate school career counselors and students from grades 11-12 about technology and various career options available through engineering. Students and counselors got a chance to learn about the various programs in electrical, electronics, and computer engineering, and science in the local universities, and got to interact with live technologies such as robots. This poster will demonstrate how local resources can be utilized in a cost effective manner to have a productive outreach program to engage pre-university students.

Supporting and Promoting Engineering in our Community: A Balanced Connect and Engage ModelPresented by Peter Ademola Adejokun, Fort Worth SectionThis poster describes a model for connecting and engaging with our community, through professional activities and community outreach programs. Both of these promote the engineering profession and engineering policies that affect our community. The IEEE Fort Worth Section currently has three outreach programs. The K-12 Engineering Outreach sponsors annual National Engineers Week Future City competitions, high school science fairs, and accredited Teacher-in-Service training. The Section also fully engages our Student Branches, organizes several annual technical conferences to provide continuing education for practicing engineers, and engages our elected officials to positively influence national engineering and science policies via its annual Technology Congressional Visit Days and Energy Policy Fly-ins.